Techwear: The Future of Functional Fashion
Have you seen Apple’s new Pro Vision reality augmenting headset? Talk about blurring the lines between real and virtual! How close can man and technology get? Apparently, ‘there’s no difference between the two’ says Elon Musk.
Recently, the world witnessed the first successful chipping procedure where Mr Arbaugh, paralyzed neck down after a driving accident, received the Neuralink chip implant in January 2024.
Neuralink is a microchip which when implanted in the brain, will allow people to interact with technology and their environment by power of thought. It could also potentially offer relief for an array of diseases, chronic illnesses and complex neurological conditions. We’ll cover implantable tech in another post; today, it’s all about techwear and wearables.
What tech do you wear? And what’s the difference between techwear, wearable tech, and an implant (are you wearing it, or is it wearing you?) Let’s find out!
Introduction to Techwear
Fashion has always been the ultimate reflection of the times we live in.
So, it’s only natural that the way we clothe ourselves constantly evolves with the progression of time and technology. Thanks to the invention of new materials, design concepts, and technologies, the fashion industry continues to see major advancements.
One of the most exciting and recent trends in clothing is (urban) techwear, a style that fuses fashion with advanced materials and technology for optimum functionality. Techwear is characterized by its futuristic aesthetics and technology-packed features tailored for modern life.
In this post, we’ll take a look at how techwear is impacting lives and businesses as well as what the future holds for this exciting trend. Now that we’ve set the stage, why don’t you grab your most futuristic sunglasses so we can dive right into the matrix that is techwear!
What is Techwear?
Derived from the term “technical wear”, techwear is a subculture that seamlessly blends cutting-edge technology and fashion to create stylish yet functional apparel and wearable devices. A movement all on its own, techwear has become both an exciting new trend for fashion-forward individuals as well as a functional necessity for various professions and hobbies.
Now you might ask;
You : “Does this mean my multi-pocket outdoor photography vest can be classified as techwear?
Me : “Yes.”
You : “And what about my smart watch, it’s tech and I wear it on my wrist?”
Me : “Yes sir, that’s also a form of techwear.”
You Again : “Alright Mr. Know-it-all, and what about the continuous glucose monitoring device under my skin that helps manage my diabetes?”
Me : “Well, color me surprised… At this point, you’ve got to ask yourself how far the tech would have to go inside you until it’s no longer considered wearable, but implanted. Have a nice day sir, next!”
Techwear can therefore be defined as any wearable tech that helps you maximize movement, organize your essentials thoughtfully, protect you from the elements, relay information, monitor your vitals or biodata and adapt to your lifestyle.
So, where did it all begin?
Brief History and Evolution
As far as inventions go, the history of technical apparel is unbelievably interesting; one filled with frustrated scientists, unexpected discoveries and happy accidents!
The first instance of techwear can be traced back to April 1939 when 27-year-old chemist Roy Plunkett discovered Polytetrafluoroethylene at the Jackson Lab, New Jersey. Interestingly, Plunkett was developing a groundbreaking refrigerant.
By total chance, he discovered that the gas polymerized to become a white, waxy, insoluble and non-stick powder (PTFE ((C2F4)n)) that could withstand temperatures of 260°C. Today, it’s referred to as Teflon and is used in various products such as clothing and cookware.
Another crucial milestone in techwear history that would change the face of fashion forever happened in 1969. A father-son team, Wilbert and Robert Gore stretched heated rods of PTFE to create ePTFE.
This was another happy accident born out of frustration when papa Gore suddenly yanked the material instead of applying the usual slow, stretching force. This yank led to the invention of a microporous structure that was both waterproof and highly breathable—trademarked Gore-Tex.
From this point forward, the industry basically became a competition to see who could incorporate the most and latest technologies into clothing, from head-to-toe – a competition that’s still thriving today.
Key Characteristics of Techwear
Do you have some techwear on you right now? Here are a few prominent features and characteristics to help you find out.
Advanced Fabrics
Techwear is made from highly advanced materials designed to offer optimum protection from the elements, or at least provide alleviation and comfort.
a) Waterproofing
It doesn’t get more technical than the fear of H2O. Courtesy of climate change and unpredictable weather patterns, waterproofing has become an absolute essential. A lot of technical garments incorporate nanotechnology and treatments like durable water repellent (DRW) to keep wearers dry and toasty with waterproof materials like Gore-Tex.
Note, the terms waterproof, water resistant, and water repellent are not synonymous. Here’s what they mean:
- Water Resistant – Offers the lowest level of protection. Techwear rated here can resist water intrusion to a certain degree with no guarantee.
- Water Repellent – Offering medium levels of protection against water, techwear rated as repellent comes with hydrophobic coatings that repel water intrusion.
- Waterproof – The highest level of protection against water. Thanks to this type of smart fabric’s fully immersible capabilities, wearers can practically dive underwater without a care in the world.
b) Wind Resistance
Smart garments have tightly woven fabrics that offer protection from cold winds. That’s right, no flus or shivers when your clothes can keep the cold out while simultaneously keeping the heat in.
c) Breathability
As crucial as protection against the elements is, it would mean nada without body temperature regulation. Wouldn’t make sense to go shirtless every time you went indoors because your new T-shirt won’t let the heat out! Technical fabrics ensure proper ventilation by incorporating breathable materials. This reduces overheating and sweating while also offering comfort during arduous activity.
Technological Integration
Perhaps the most exciting aspect of techwear is all the technological innovation that goes into these garments. From the wide range of functional materials and smart fabrics to the innovative manufacturing processes and seamless integration of wearable technology, techwear literally takes its name to heart.
First thing that comes to mind when you think about wearable technology is probably a wrist watch or fitness trackers —and for good reason. The fashion aspect of these wearables still has
a long way to go in terms of true integration into our lives.
However, recent years have seen a massive injection of tech into everyday wear. And with the advent of AI and edge computing, we’re about to witness computing technology being fused with textiles in ways that will yield totally new capabilities.
In 2024 alone, there have been numerous innovations in wearable technology such as Apple’s Pro Vision virtual reality headset, CuteCircuit’s smart shirt that helps the hearing impaired listen to music, and entire brands of smart apparel infused with embedded systems and Internet connectivity.
These products are designed and manufactured to integrate technologies that offer added value and functionality to the user, whether for safety, performance, or pleasure. Let’s take a closer look at these and a few other clever innovations.
Smart Fabrics and Wearable Technology
Imagine being able to communicate with your clothes for temperature regulation where your outfit responds automatically to thermo-regulate. Or sending real-time fitness information to your coach and doctor when working out! While we might be at the grass roots, all this will soon be possible with the development of smart fabrics.
Also known as e-textiles, smart fabrics are garments with digital or electronic components built into them. It could be as simple as LED vests for cyclists and batteries to charge devices on the go or more complex chips and sensors to relay all sorts of bio data. E-textiles are designed and manufactured to integrate technologies that offer added value and functionality to the user, whether for safety, performance, or pleasure.
The wider range of applications for smart textiles include medical, military, fashion, safety, and many more. Some of the oldest examples of aesthetic smartwear used mainly for fashion were sneakers that lit up and rings that could change colors based on the wearer’s temperature.
As for performance-focused smart fabrics, think heat and radiation suits built to protect users from the respective, hazardous environments. Today, e-textiles are becoming more and more mainstream, especially in the fashion and entertainment industry.
Embedded Sensors in Clothing
By merging technology and fashion, techwear manages to deliver functional benefits to the wearer while also elevating their visual appearance.
Smart clothing allows its users to interact with the environment, communicate data through embedded sensors, and could even modify the shape, size, color and design of the garment. Some examples of real products and designs include:
CuteCircuits
One brilliant example of assisted interaction by smart fabrics is CuteCircuit’s Sound Shirt which allows hearing impaired persons to see the sound and experience music vibrations through their bodies!
Sensoria Fitness
Sensoria Fitness boasts of a wide range of activity and motion tracking smart clothing for sports and fitness. One of these products are smart socks infused with textile sensors that detect pressure, cadence, foot landing, and impact forces giving users precise measurements over their performance.
Conductive fibers woven into the socks relay this data to a Bluetooth-powered anklet that communicates with a mobile app which uses the set metrics to improve form, performance, and speed up recovery time; adding a touch of artificial intelligence to the techwear.
Twinery
Flex and MAS Holdings have a partnership to advance smart clothing which has seen the development of cutting edge running shorts and capris titled Firefly Activewear. These shorts are meant to be a portable running coach and have integrated sensors that monitor running metrics such as ground contact time, cadence, stride length, pelvic rotation, and glute muscles activation – all with real-time feedback through headphones.
If you thought trainers were harsh, imagine getting bossed around by a talking pair of running shorts all passive aggressive in your ears like, ‘‘Hey, you’re running even slower than yesterday mate, pick up the pace!’’
Athos Activewear
That’s exactly what Athos shorts with Bluetooth capabilities aim to do. In addition to a heart rate monitor, the smart shorts have glute, quad, and hamstring sensors that measure the activation of all those muscles during a workout. This data is invaluable for creating a uniform, efficient workout as well as preventing injuries.
Hexoskin
Now available to the general public, Astroskin from Hexoskin is the most advanced ambulatory vital signs monitoring platform for medical research in the world. The Astroskin is part of the Canadian Space Agency’s Bio-Monitor that was deployed in space early 2019 and worn by the Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques, Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano and many other astronauts since.
Bio Monitor
A team of scientists in Madrid also developed an intelligent t-shirt that can locate patients in a hospital or health facility using a closed GPS system. In addition to showing the location, it can also tell if a patient is walking, running, seated, or laying down. This is incredibly useful for monitoring the elderly or people with memory/mental issues. Real-time tracking for elderly patients has always been challenging when it relies on proprietary sensors and RFID technologies.
Other Wearable Formats and Use Cases
Health Monitoring
Many medical professionals already use wearable solutions for patients like biosensors and CGMs to track and receive notifications on a wide range of patient vitals. These include wearable wristbands and vests that monitor vitals like heart rate, blood pressure, calories, sugar, etc. Introduced way back in 2017 one popular solution is the Motiv Ring which is slipped onto the patient’s finger to continually monitor activity, heart rate, and sleep patterns.
Heck, there’s even a wearable device called ‘Upright GO’ that shocks the living daylights out of you when it senses bad posture! It’s about time we got some human shock collars.
Entertainment and Gaming
If there’s one industry that has pioneered the development of wearable tech, it’s entertainment. The first VR headset, smart glasses, and controllers were for gaming. Augmented Reality (AR) headsets use a real world setting that integrates digital information into a display of the user’s environment to allow for interaction with virtual reality and the real world.
Intelligent Fashion
Intelligent fashion is quickly becoming mainstream, with smart jackets such as Levi’s + Google Jacquard whose threads are composed of electrical fibers that let users answer calls, take photos, play music and more right from their sleeves. Other examples include smart watches, shoes, and smart jewelry.
Tech giants like Apple and Microsoft already have patents for their smart fabric tech integration. They aim to integrate health monitoring technology into clothing for convenient, automated fit-wear. Apple’s patent titled “Fabric Seam With Electrical Components”is just one of 37 newly granted patents aimed at fabric control devices.
Spinali Designs is a French startup that manufactures high end beachwear that integrates UV sensors so wearers know when to apply sunscreen.
Sports and Fitness
Numerous sports use wearable athletic devices that are either built into the fabric/apparel or incorporated into the sports equipment. Similarly, athletes also use wearable tech like Apple watches, Garmin, Fitbit, Samsung watches, and Polar to extensively track their health and performance metrics.
Military and Law Enforcement
Militaries all over the world use wearable technologies that track soldiers’ vitals. Likewise, VR-based simulations are used to get soldiers battle ready. Techwear such as boot inserts can estimate weight distribution and factor in terrain to gauge performance. Governments such as China also equip their traffic police with cooled jackets to combat heat exhaustion.
The Future of Techwear
While not currently the most popular or dominating fashion trend, technological advancements position techwear as the most transformative force the industry has ever seen. As technology becomes even more advanced, the limitless possibilities for technical garments will continue to shape the future of fashion with regards to functionality, sustainability, and style.
As we speak, techwear fashion is a growing sub-genre among teens and young adults. It’s only a matter of time until it shifts from avant-garde to mainstream streetwear and urban fashion.
And while you certainly won’t see your grandpa rocking the latest sneakers, he’ll definitely appreciate that functional pair of orthopedic shoes to alleviate that sciatica/ fasciitis, or an intelligent shirt that lets loved ones monitor his vitals and location at all times.
Edge Ahead with embedUR
Got a brilliant idea on the next big thing in techwear and wearable technology? Don’t let your competition beat you to it, due to lack of resources or speed. Let us help you bring it to life.
embedUR is a leading embedded systems company that specializes in platform enablement and helping innovators leverage the latest in Edge AI to bring new products to market for the intelligent edge. If you’ve got an IoT or Edge AI market opportunity you want to explore, we have the expertise to help you build the right product for it.
Disclaimer : Images used in this article are for editorial purposes only to enhance the reader’s understanding. Each image is credited to its respective company and has been used with the intention of promoting their products and services positively. If any company wishes to have their image removed or has specific attribution requirements, please contact us.
